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Mini Apple Pie

Mini Apple Pies With Pine Nuts

Mini Apple Pies mean smaller portions and every one gets their own little pie. This is a lower calorie version and pine nuts in the filling.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 4 Mini Pies

Ingredients
  

For the pie crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 30 gm chilled butter cut into pieces
  • 2 tbsps chilled paneer belnded till creamy
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 4 to 5 tbsps ice cold water
  • 2 tbsps apricot jam orange marmalade (or melted chocolate or eggwhite)
  • little milk for brushing over pie dough

For the filling:

  • 2 big apples (I used Golden Delicious), cored and chopped
  • 2 tbsps corn starch
  • 3/4 tsp powdered cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp powdered nutmeg
  • 3/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (or regular)

Instructions
 

  • First toss the sliced apple with the lemon juice so to coat well. This prevents discolouration.
  • You can do this by hand, but I prefer using the food processor. It's quicker and the dough stays cold. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in the processor bowl. Pulse a couple of times to blend. Add the chilled butter and paneer and pulse a few times until it looks like very coarse breadcrumbs in texture.
  • Empty this mixture into a mixing bowl and sprinkle the lemon juice. Add the 4 tbsps of water over it. Using a fork, stir it until it is no longer dry and crumbly, adding a little more water if necessary.
  • When you pinch a small bit of dough with your fingers, it should hold together. Gather the dough into a ball and shape into a disc. Rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface till it is about less than 1/4 " thick. If you are making a single pie then this should be about 11" in diameter.
    mini apple pie dough
  • Divide the rolled dough equally between four pie tins with removable bottoms, removing the overhang. Prick the bottom of each with the tines of a fork, line with foil and then fill with beans. Blind bake them at 220C (425F) for about 15 minutes till the crust is dry.
    mini apple pie blind baking
  • Take the pie crusts out of the oven, cool for 5 minutes and then remove the beans and foil. Keep the pie crusts in the pie tins. Brush the base of the baked pie crusts with jam.
    mini apple pie filling
  • While the dough is resting, mix all the ingredients for the filling, except the pine nuts. Put it into a small pan and cook for about 10 minutes till the mixture thickens. Let it cool. Divide the filling equally between the four pie crusts. Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the filling and use the dough scraps to cut out decorations with cutters to top the mini pies. Use water (or milk) to attach them to the pie crust.
    mini apple pie cutouts
  • Brush the top of the mini pies with milk. Bake them at 220C (425F) for about 20 to 25 minutes until the pies are golden brown and puffy.
    mini apple pies ready for oven
  • Let them cool for about 5 minutes and then remove from the tins and coo slightly on racks. Serve them warm as they are or with vanilla ice-cream.

Notes

This recipe makes 4 mini apple pies.